The benefits of having a good night sleep are endless. However, despite knowing the positive impact of napping, some don’t get enough sleep regularly. There’s a magnitude of reason as to why people are having a hard time dozing, and naming them is an entirely different story. In this article, will focus on different apps that can help you get those Zs right away and how this meditation applications become too accessible to the extent of overshadowing yoga and relaxation classes.

With the advent of technology, sleeping and wellness apps are no exception. Today, smartphones can send you happily off to dreamland. Through different apps installed on people’s phone, they tend to receive hundreds of notifications daily, and an app which serves as a reminder to have a regular and healthier sleep habit is becoming a trend; from the traditional self-help and to do’s devices to relief apps that can help humans achieve their full health potential.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 out of 3 adults do not usually get their recommended hours of sleep each night. By not getting the right amount of sleep, it would lead to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, heart disease, stroke and worst, death. Also, sleeping for below seven hours is related to an impaired immune system, a decrease in cognitive performance, an increased risk of accidents, according to Healthline Media.

Meanwhile, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society recommend that adults should need to sleep for at least seven hours each night regularly. This is to promote optimal health and well-being. Promoting regular sleep patterns and healthy sleep habits is called ‘sleep hygiene.’ Methods associated with sleep hygiene include going to bed and rising at the same time daily, avoiding large meals, too much caffeine intake and alcohol before bedtime, and avoiding nicotine altogether.

Introducing a sleep app to your sleep hygiene routine may also help you to accomplish those seven hours of bliss. Today, the highest revenues made by purchasing sleep apps tells us that people relied mostly on these technologies to get a good sleep.

In the recent study done by Statista on the leading Android health apps worldwide based on annual revenue, it shows how fast sleep apps are getting into the market and how they change the way people live. One of the leading relief apps today is ‘Calm’ which is founded in 2012 by Michael Acton Smith and co-founded by a serial entrepreneur Alex Tew. It is a free meditation and a sleep app designed for both Android and Apple subscribers.

It had gained popularity into the world of wellness apps in the year 2017 when Apple recognized it as the ‘app of the year.’ In 2018, its sales tripled to almost 40 million dollars, jumping to 60 million dollars at the end of the year.

Headspace, another meditation app which uses a series of cartoons to illustrate meditation principles, followed ‘Calm’ with 37 million dollars annual revenue. Simple Habit, a 5-minute guided meditation app designed to help busy people cope with stress and live better, is next in line with a 25 million dollars profit.

The Calm app is free, which is one of the primary reasons why it has attracted subscribers from all over the world. If you ask me, where did all the profit come from? It is because the company charged 60 dollars a year for subscriptions to access the full library of meditation, music/lullabies, and sleep content. The payment includes features such as audio programs like ‘7 days of sleep’ and ’21 days of calm’ that guide users through a daily routine of 10 to 15-minute sessions for relieving stress and anxiety.

Now the question is, what forces people to rely on meditation app instead of an actual stress-relieving session like yoga, exercise, and other self-help meditation classes?

Not too long ago, people used CDs or tapes to help them sleep, but now they depend on apps. But the former is not portable; imagine how difficult it is to carry CD players on your business trips. The latter, however, offers easy access and convenience to the users. Just by downloading the app, you can carry it via your phone anytime and wherever you decide to go without any trouble.

Moreover, the app has also gained popularity due to a cultural shift away from overworking. These are good for people who try to manage stress by overstraining themselves from work, relationship, school, politics, and even personal life. The founder, Acton Smith, himself thinks that one of the stressors last year is ‘Donald Trump’s presidency and he makes some people angry and frustrated,’ which increased sales for the app.

‘Learning to be more mindful and relaxing and calming people has proved to be particularly popular this year.’

Today, Calm ranked 50th among top grossing apps on IOS which is one spot behind Dropbox. It is already becoming a ‘full-time’ relief app which provides audio meditations, sleep and relaxing stories which can be accessed early in the morning, on office hours, during a coffee break, and especially while traveling.

The said shift is something investors hope to capitalize on and put to market. Though there is a business purpose, it becomes a venue for people to be more fit and have a healthy lifestyle. In ten years or more, this will be a global brand set in a multi-billion dollar business but with a goal to help people reduce their stress levels, and improve their mental, as well as, physical health. After all, the app is becoming a sensation, and this is something which celebrities, executives, business people, children, and workers are doing now and will continue to do so in the future.